IT's the last weekend of The Voice Kids UK, with the semi-finals tonight and live final tomorrow. Coach and mentor Pixie Lott hopes her team come up trumps…

Pixie Lott has a soft spot for child singers – after all, she used to be one herself. Her love of singing began in her local church, in Kent, when she was young and it was here that Pixie’s parents spotted her passion for performing, enrolling her into an Italia Conti Associates Saturday theatre school at the tender age of five.

Fast forward 21 years and the singer and actress has had several hit records, including three number ones, as well as top 10 albums and various film and theatre roles. She also runs her own Italia Conti Associates Saturday School.

“Before I was doing The Voice Kids, I opened the school with my mum and my sister, and I also have an unsigned acoustic night at my local pub for up-and-coming singers, so working with young, talented people is already a hobby of mine. I know what they are going through.”

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So who better to help find a new young singer on TV talent show The Voice Kids UK? “I cannot believe we are already at the semi-final stage,” reveals an excited Pixie.

“I have absolutely loved it, just because of the talent of the kids. I didn’t think they were going to be as amazing and as fearless as they have been.”

Joining Pixie as a mentor on the show has been McFly guitarist and singer Danny Jones, and regular on the grown-up version of the show, will.i.am. “We were lucky because there’s been a really nice energy among the three of us.

You never know how the dynamics are going to work, and we didn’t know each other that much before we started.

Danny was as new as me, but he’s such a lovely person and that made it even easier. You can see Will absolutely loves this new version when he’s talking to the kids.

Obviously, he’s used to the adult show because he’s done it for so long, but this is completely different – he is so good with the kids. We all had a lot of fun on set.

Goodness knows what they will both be like in the live final!”

PH

The Voice Kids UK, tonight, 7.30pm & tomorrow, 7.10PM, ITV

The old rule in show business is never to work with children or animals, so what made her want to be part of something featuring even one of those? “There’s something special about working with young people.

They love it so much and their pure innocent love of performing and music is so inspiring. I can say, hand on heart, that it’s definitely my favourite talent show that I’ve been involved with.”

The Voice Kids has followed the same format as the older version, except there have been no steals and no second chances for the coaches. Tonight sees the final four acts from each team singing in the semi-final, with two from each team winning a spot in the live finale on Sunday night, where the viewers choose the winner.

“It’s really been hard,” explains the 26 year old, “because they all started on an equal footing and were there because they were really talented.

But it’s the rules that it has to go down to four, which I found incredibly difficult to do. It’s hard for the kids, but it’s good to learn that lesson at a young age because that does happen in this industry and is something I learned over and over growing up in this world.”

She certainly knows what she’s talking about. After spending her time at Saturday performing arts school, the singer won a scholarship to attend the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London.

She was put forward for many auditions and failed repeatedly. “It was hard to hear the rejection, but it just made me want to get better.” Others she won, appearing in the West End versions of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the TV movie Celebrate The Sound Of Music, on BBC1, to name a few.

The singer and actress, who also competed on the 12th series of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing in 2014 (making it to the quarter finals), says: “I can see myself in all of these singers because, at this age, it’s exactly the same stuff that I was doing. If this show had been around when I was younger then I would have been auditioning for it.

All their excitement is exactly how I felt.

Pixie Lott in pictures

Tue, December 5, 2017

Pixie Lott showed off her incredible abs in a bright orange bikini as she enjoys a break in Singapore.

After completing her GCSEs and gaining straight As, Pixie suddenly found herself singing in front of US music maestro L.A. Reid and promptly signed to The Island Def Jam Music Group.

Now it’s time for her final four to take the same leap and perform to secure a place in the final, winning £30,000 to help them on their journey to stardom.

“I can’t wait for the performances from all of the kids on the show,” smiles Pixie. “I know that Team Pixie will all rise to the challenge and, most importantly, enjoy it. It’s the start of their careers, and the winner can take the prize money and really use it to their advantage to help get the career they want.

I think I’ve got the winner, but I guess we will just have to wait and see if the public agree!”